Charlie Anderson | Hutto ISD

"I first learned about ATPE while attending the mandatory preparatory meetings at Texas State University for student teaching. There was an entire day dedicated to professional organizations that are beneficial to teachers. Representatives from various groups spoke about their organization, including ATPE. As a student teacher, we were required to have liability coverage, which ATPE offered. In that way, the university and organizations were partnered to shuffle pre-service teachers into the organizations that offered liability insurance, but that wasn't the only benefit to joining ATPE. During my student teaching, I took advantage of my FREE membership and took part in various webinars to gain some continuing professional development credits. I was thinking ahead, and I knew this would be an important component when it came time to renew my teaching certificate(s). I don't think I took full advantage of my membership during that time, but I learned about the organization, gained insight, experience and resources, and renewed my membership after that year to more fully explore the benefits available to me to continue my educational journey and growth as a teacher."